I believe that seminary class is a lab in which our faith and scholarly work come together on equal levels; any lecture or debate not emerging from one’s faith makes it hollow, and any endeavor to keep one’s doctrinal or dogmatic stance not allowing a critical evaluation makes it irrelevant to today’s multifaceted world. Today’s world asks us more desperately than any time before to have open minds, love, and tolerance toward those who are different from our own in culture and faith tradition. Theological education is an opportunity in which we learn together to grow both...

When I was ordained to the Christian ministry, I was charged to serve as chaplain and as a teacher. I take seriously–and rejoice in–this dual sense of calling, and I feel blessed to interact with ABSW students as a seminary teacher, as a clinical pastoral supervisor, and as a colleague and co-learner in ministry with people in crisis.

I envision the primary task of pastoral care as the nurturing and sustaining of hope. The capacity for hope is crucial for human thriving, and so I seek to help students understand how they can encourage people to connect with their sense of hope, or even “bear...

Elizabeth Liebert is committed to offering resources to future leaders of the church to help them understand and deepen their own spiritual grounding and to extend their ministries of spiritual nurture and care of their congregations and other ministries. Her current research centers on aspects of the academic discipline of Christian Spirituality, and, in particular, on the practice of discernment, both personally in in institutional settings. She is a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (SNJM) an educationally oriented Roman Catholic women’s religious congregation.

Robert John Russell is the current Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science. Since 1981, Dr. Russell has served as both founding director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) and professor of theology and science at the GTU. Holding a PhD in physics and an MDiv/MA in theology, Dr. Russell embodies the motto of the Ian G. Barbour Chair: “Where religion meets science.” He has mentored dozens of PhD and MA GTU students in theology and science, ethics, and Christian spirituality. Many of his former students hold tenured faculty positions at universities or seminaries...

My teaching has always been informed by many streams of experience; primary among these is a lifetime of worship and service within small churches. I've cherished the opportunity to be a professor, a pastor, and a church musician because these three roles inform and enhance each other so richly. Although I'm now an emeritus member of the ABSW faculty, I hope to continue teaching courses on congregational music for the foreseeable future, in partnership with the GTU's Center for the Arts and Religion.

First Baptist Church of Berkeley, where I’ve served (and continue to serve) as pastor and...

Brody has worked on excavations at Bronze and Iron Age sites on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, with participation in projects in the Negev, Akko Plain, and in northern California. His primary research interests include archaeological interpretations of the society, religion, and economy of ancient Canaan, Phoenicia, and Israel; materiality of religions; “race,” ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in archaeology and the biblical world; Postcolonial Persian period; and maritime/underwater archaeology. He has held research posts at both the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, in...

I am passionate about the power of worship to form and transform communities of faith. My earliest memories of worship are the early-morning midweek Lenten services I attended with my dad and older brother, and Saturdays in the church sacristy with my mother as she prepared for the next day's liturgies. I chose liturgy as an academic discipline because I believed that studying worship would give me a window into what individuals and communities in different times and places believed about God. My doctoral work, a study of the development of the rites of baptism and confirmation in the 1979...

Susan Abraham is Professor of Theology and Postcolonial Cultures, VP of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at the Pacific School of Religion. Her teaching and research explores postcolonial religious practices. She is the author of Identity, Ethics, and Nonviolence in Postcolonial Theory: A Rahnerian Theological Assessment (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and co-editor of Shoulder to Shoulder: Frontiers in Catholic Feminist Theology (Fortress, 2009). Her publications and presentations weave practical theological insights from the experience of working as a youth minister for the Diocese of Mumbai...

Ted Peters arrived at the GTU in 1978 and has taught in the doctoral program continuously into his present emeritus stage. His systematic theology, God--The World's Future, now in its 3rd edition, has been used as a text book in numerous seminaries around the world. For more than a decade he edited Dialog, A Journal of Theology. Along with Robert John Russell he is the co-founder and co-editor of the journal, Theology and Science, at the GTU's Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. From 1990 to 1994 he served as Principal Investigator for a US NIH/ELSI grant to study the "Theological...

It brings me joy to explore Christian sources with my students, critically and compassionately and with an ecumenical spirit. In this pursuit, I wear two hats – that of a theologian and of a historian – held together with my feminist orientation. My specialty is Lutheran theology and history, interpreted with a twist!

In my classes, students encounter Martin Luther, the freedom-theologian. From the 16th century sources, they gain a window into the complex layers of Christian history, theology, and spirituality. They connect with the women of the Reformation, who invite us to rewrite the...

I am a passionate educator with extensive experience teaching in a multicultural setting. I love to empower others as they discover their own voices and come to deeper insights about themselves and their world. I develop dynamic learning environments in face-to-face and online classrooms by employing a liberative and contemplative pedagogy.

Teresa Chávez Sauceda believes that the practice of ministry today can be both tremendously challenging and deeply rewarding, calling for new skills, inspired creativity and a deep curiosity about the world in which we live and seek to minister. She enjoys working at the intersection of the church and the academy, with pastors, chaplains and other religious professionals who come together as scholar practitioners to learn, explore and envision the future of ministry in the 21st century. Teresa brings her own experience in a variety of ministry settings, including hospice ministry, community...

An institution of higher learning unlike any other, the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley brings together scholars of the world’s diverse religions and wisdom traditions to advance new knowledge, share inspiration, and collaborate on solutions.